14 Video Games That Changed My Life

I was at a friend's house when the phone rang. It was mom. She got a Nintendo. I rushed back to find Super Mario Bros. on the living room TV.

Video games had arrived in our home.

A few years later, we got a PC — the IBM PS/2 I hacked to pieces in a bid to get more complex games running on its aging Intel 286 processor. Amid an explosion of diverse PC titles, Nintendo's blockbuster franchises and a little thing called the Internet, I was awash in entertainment like no generation before.

The art of world building enthralled me, and with every software generation, the worlds got richer and more beautiful. Games were the biggest media influence on my creative life, and my pursuit of them taught me many technical skills I use today.

Now, I never play games to kill time. I invest in titles I hope will reveal something new and important. I owe this rigor to a list of games that stick to my imagination. Here are 14 that made a profound impact on my perception of storytelling, technology and plain old life.

1. Rogue (1980)

Descending into the ASCII dungeons of Rogue. Image: Wikipedia

In a world of 1-UPs and Continues, the blasphemous notion of permanent death blew my adolescent gamer mind.

Every playthrough of Rogue is unique, and death means death; you can never resume your progress or return to that particular dungeon again. Your goal is to reach the bottom of a randomly generated labyrinth without being killed by monsters, traps or starvation. Spoiler alert: You will be killed. Many times. And probably never win.

Though I discovered the game nearly a decade after release, when computer graphics were coming into their own, there was something instantly charming about the ASCII corridors and obtuse user interface.

Why it matters:Rogue brought dungeon crawling from the tabletop to PC, and 30+ years later, its influence is everywhere. Today's indie development scene is stacked with "Roguelikes," a namesake with two criteria: procedurally generated levels and permanent death.

How it changed me:Rogue has no plot, and only one rule: Survive any way you can. There was nothing like it on the contemporary gaming market, and those lo-fi dots, letters and symbols became proxies for a vivid, hostile world, where every step might be my last.

2. King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella (1988)

Rosella searches for the magical fruit that will save her father in King's Quest IV. Image: The Adventure Gamer

PC "adventure" games of the '80s and '90s were not about blasting enemies or training reflexes, but narrative fiction. Sierra Entertainment ruled the market with its Quest franchises — King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Quest for Glory and Eco Quest, all of which I consumed with adolescent gusto.

My first taste was in media res with King's Quest IV, the tale of the titular regent's daughter Rosella on a mission to save her father from certain death. Before the point-and-click interface of second-generation adventure games, KQ4 and its predecessors required text input. To perform an action, move Rosella to a door and type "Open Door." Walk into the barn and type "Take Shovel." Travel to the graveyard and "Read Tombstone."

Why it matters: Sierra's Quest franchises are the cornerstone of modern PC gaming, and though narrative adventures dried up after the late '90s in favor of more dynamic 3D storytelling mechanics, the movement to reinvent 2D puzzle questing is strong in indie development circles today.

How it changed me: For one, these games were hard, with obtuse puzzles often solved through brute force trial-and-error (testing commands, gathering objects, wandering in search of an "ah-ha!" moment). There was no Internet for clues, and some scenarios took days or weeks to decipher. This made the game feel longer and more epic — perhaps artificially so.

KQ4 also felt like a conversation. Type a command, get a narrative response. Sometimes it was a simple action ("The door swings open"), and sometimes a pithy narrative gate ("You probably don't want to do that!"). You could hear the writers inside the game. By comparison, Nintendo titans of the console world like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda felt extremely "mute." They were action and graphics, while Sierra's adventures were interactive literature. Even as a kid, I could sense the difference.

3. Lemmings (1991)

Assign skills in the nick of time to save your lovably stupid rodents in Lemmings. Image: Animated Screen Shots

Pegged to the myth that these dumb rodents will march off a cliff in mass suicide, Lemmings is a game bizarre in concept, brilliant in execution.

It's a puzzle game front to back, disguised as an adventure, the perfect sugar coating for a kid averse to crosswords and Tetris (me). A parade of lemmings drops from a hatch; they walk aimlessly to their doom unless you assign them specific skills at the right moments — builders cross chasms, diggers move through the earth, floaters can survive long falls, etc. Skill assignments are limited, hazards are many, and you must save a minimum number of rodents to advance.

Why it matters:Lemmings is one of the most well-crafted games ever made. The puzzles are brutal, but somehow not frustrating. This isn't Sudoku. I'm trying to save furry little lives, damn it! And the necessary sacrifice of some lemmings to ensure the safety of the group builds remarkable empathy for the tiny, pixelated vermin. Beyond that, the art, music and animation are a delight, and hold up rather well.

How it changed me: This game was so outside the box, I couldn't escape its pull. Solving levels was so satisfying, and the trial-and-error was incredibly fun. Watching your little guys get flattened, drowned and incinerated (sometimes purposefully blown up!) was all the more incentive to try again.

4. Stunt Island (1992)

Enroute to a good old fashioned barn storm on the set of Stunt Island. Image: PC Gamer

Flight simulators were huge in the early '90s. Microsoft iterated every year to bring more realism to armchair pilots. But Stunt Island, published by Disney Interactive, is an oft overlooked gem. Players could fly stunts across a 3D island dotted with famous landmarks. Or they could build their own sets, position multiple cameras and script the action of vehicles. Essentially, it was a movie-making simulator with incredible versatility for the time.

Place props and people, plot the direction and speed of vehicles, designate collideable objects, trigger explosions, call action and jump in your plane to lay down that clutch barrel role. You are the director and the stunt pilot, and after you capture your footage in real time, head to the editing room to splice it together and add a soundtrack.

How it changed me: I loved the idea of creating my own movies, and PCs were just starting to offer this ability, in gaming contexts and professional applications. Dreaming up exciting action sequences and figuring out how to script and shoot them in Stunt Island was a blast, and gave me a grip on rudimentary programming, film editing, sound tracking and composition.

5. Quest for Glory III: Wages of War (1992)

Quest for Glory III is rooted in the mythology of Northern and Central Africa. Image: GameFAQs.com

The Quest for Glory series, developed for Sierra by husband and wife team Corey and Lori Cole, combined narrative adventure with traditional role-playing mechanics like character class, skill stats and combat. And it was a happy marriage.

I loved the entire series, but the third installment is noteworthy for its craftsmanship. Your hero arrives in Tarna, a city reminiscent of Ancient Egypt and inhabited by a benevolent Sphinx-like people. His travels take him across savannahs and jungles in a bid to stem an impending war between the Simbani tribe and the vicious Leopard Men. There are unseen evil forces at play, of course, and unraveling the conflict becomes a test of politics and grit.

Why it matters:QfG3 was the first in the series to natively utilize VGA graphics and a point-and-click interface, and it was beautiful. The complexity of the story brought the series to new narrative heights, and it was the first video game in my memory to prominently feature black characters.

While the story was ultimately linear, every scenario could be solved in three (or more) different ways, depending on your character class — great for re-playability. You could import your character from the previous games, preserving the class, stats, decisions and some items. This was unique at the time, and now a critical mechanic of venerated modern RPGs like Mass Effect and The Witcher.

How it changed me:QfG3 was the first adventure game that really felt like a living world to me. It had day and night cycles and many characters with circumstantial agendas. By modern standards it may show its age, but linear storytelling be damned with a vast savannah to explore and piles of secret areas to discover.

6. Final Fantasy VI (1994)

Terra moves through the sleepy mining town of Narshe in Imperial Magitek armor. Image: decadot

I enjoyed the tired tropes of Japanese role-playing games as much as the next American 12-year-old, but nothing could prepare me for the grandeur of Squaresoft's flagship 1994 title. Released for Super Nintendo as Final Fantasy III (due to a variety of stupid regional discrepancies), the game chronicles a young, amnesia-stricken woman under the control of an oppressive military. Her mysterious origin and the plans of an imperial mad man unite 14 playable characters in an epic story of rebellion, world-shattering ignorance and rebirth.

Why it matters: Video games had never seen such sprawling narrative up to this point, and while 14 party members may seem like character bloat, you loved and invested in every one. Equipping party members with the spirits of deceased Espers — magical beasts that imbue their hosts with spell knowledge over time — meant you could train your party in strategic skill sets. Assembling your rag tag crew into complimentary four-man squads was critical to success, a layer classically absent from grind-heavy JRPGs of the time.

The soundtrack is also a cinematic masterpiece that captures the ethos of every character and setting, and even features three movements of an original opera. If you're a fan of the game's music, you must check out the 2013 Overclocked Remix version, which brings together talented musicians from across the Internet to re-imagine the soundtrack with modern instruments.

How it changed me:If I had to single out my favorite game of all time, FF6 takes the prize. Maybe that's the nostalgia talking, but there was something about the scope of this story that grasped my adolescent imagination and never let go. Like a great book or movie, the characters are always with you.

7. Super Metroid (1994)

Metroids — strange, jellyfish-like organisms — can harness incredible amounts of energy, making them a boon to science and a deadly weapon, should one fall into the wrong ha...aaand, it's stolen.

Interstellar bounty hunter and all-around kickass lady Samus Aran tracks her pirate nemeses to the hostile planet Zebes on a mission to recover the Metroid larva. Zebes' vast network of caves and dangerous tunnel ecosystems make for the ultimate gated, non-linear adventure. That is, you can explore in any direction you like, broach any obstacle or enemy in your path, but you won't be able to overcome them until you collect the proper tools and power-ups.

Why it matters: Nintendo's Metroid franchise is long and storied, but the Super Nintendo release is a masterwork of dark, foreboding ambiance. It's a giant Rubik's Cube, wrapped in an action platformer with silent grit and heart.

How it changed me: The thrill of exploring and unlocking an alien world aside, Super Metroid is a meta game of completion. You don't have to find every energy capsule and missile upgrade on the map, but the end screen reporting "Your rate for collecting items is 89%" drove an obsessive need to return to Zebes and dig in every crevice. I don't think I ever reached 100% (again, this was pre-Internet cheating), but I do credit Super Metroid with making me a gaming completionist.

8. Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994)

You're an Imperial pilot flying missions between Episodes V and VI, and there's a lot to learn. Much more than just a 3D blast-em-up, managing your craft requires forethought and split-second combat decisions. Allocate your ship's energy between engines, shields and guns, and choose from a variety of ship classes depending on the mission — flimsy, shieldless TIE Fighters for furious squad combat, TIE Advanced for heftier battles, and TIE Bombers to deliver payloads against rebel capital ships.

Why it matters: The story and missions grow in complexity, and feature squad-command combat and threaded objectives that hinge on your success or failure (e.g. if you don't defend your Star Destroyer, it will be much harder to thwart the next wave of rebel reinforcements).

The 3D environments truly illustrated the vastness of space. Indeed, some of the game's most intense moments were in anticipation of rival fighters speeding across the void, only to break off at the last second, divert power to guns, and scramble into a messy dogfight. Add in some really strong voice acting and a John Williams score, and you've got a brilliant recipe for Star Wars and flight sim fans alike.

How it changed me: What fascinated me most about the Star Wars universe is the lore that inhabits the crevices between three titanic and immutable films. I didn't read any of the novels, but I played every LucasArts game I could get my hands on, and TIE Fighter really enriched my appreciation for a galaxy far, far away.

9. Descent (1995)

Speaking of 3D cockpit shooters, Interplay's Descent series put players at the helm of another sci-fi fighter, though not so much in space battles as in close-quarters, zero-G melee clashes. Think DOOM but with a full 360 degrees of mobility. It kind of makes you need to barf, in a good way.

The story is relatively thin — robots are screwing up a bunch of space mining operations, so get in there and blow them up, please. But plot isn't the draw here. It's the explosive combat, hair-trigger physics and ruthless cunning of your enemies that make Descent a thrill ride like nothing that came before it.

Why it matters: Corridor shooters were a dime a dozen (and still are, to an extent), but Descent gave the genre wings in a smart way, with twisted, sprawling maps and weapon systems that demand concerted reaction to unique physics.

How it changed me:Descent is adrenaline, pure and simple. Blowing the reactor core of a mine with seconds to escape, knowing the scrap metal jerks who gave you hell will be incinerated in your wake? That's about the most fun you can have with an MS-DOS PC and a joystick.

10. Homeworld (1999)

Three Taiidan assault frigates take aim in Homeworld. Image: mantidor/NeoGAF

The people of Kharak have unlocked the secret of interstellar travel, and with it, the wrath of an alien empire. Their adopted planet burning, the Mothership flees with 600,000 sole survivors, cryogenically frozen for a journey to a distant world marked on an ancient stone: Hiigara: Home.

Homeworld is a technical marvel and an enduring work of art. It launched real-time strategy into true 3D space. And for the first time in gaming, space was big. Lush nebulae, a stirring soundtrack and gripping fleet-to-fleet combat made for an indelible experience.

Why it matters:Homeworld cribs very little from sci-fi canons like Star Trek or Star Wars. Space is not an adventure, but a foreboding and hostile wilderness. You never see the aliens you encounter, their culture and motives conveyed by the aesthetics of their ships or booming radioed voices. 360 degrees of tactical combat presented a learning curve, but the missions ease you in gracefully — one minute you're learning to construct and repair ships, the next, you're embattled in a swarm of angry frigates and cruisers.

How it changed me:Homeworld hypnotized me instantly. The opening scene is gripping and the story never lets go. The fleet becomes family as you carry the same ships from battle to battle. Losing a destroyer in chapter 12 means you're down a capital ship in 13, and so on. Challenges increase exponentially, as my tactical blunders in early conflicts cost me dearly in later battles.

Good news for fans of the Homeworld series. Gearbox Software purchased the franchise IP from the liquidation of THQ, and will have HD remakes of Homeworld and Homeworld 2 out this December. Shut up and take my money.

11. Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999)

A thriving Mesoamerican city in Age of Empires II. Image: Giant Bomb

The original Age of Empires was a fantastic game, but AoE II (and its expansion pack, The Conquerors) brought enough RTS heat for bona fide cultural phenomenon status.

The formula was not new: Put your peasants to work, gather resources, raise an army and vanquish your enemies. But the sheer variety of units, buildings, upgrades, raw materials, map parameters, civilizations and victory conditions made this traditional RTS a deep study. And it has many students.

Why it matters:AoE II is, by many accounts, the most important and influential real-time strategy game ever published. Devotees have been battling online for 15 years, its staying power owing to graphics and game mechanics that aged very gracefully. Overwhelming demand compelled Microsoft Studios to release an "HD" version in April 2013, which runs hassle-free on modern PCs, boasts a respectable graphics upgrade, and offers easy multiplayer matchmaking through Steam.

How it changed me:AoE II is how adolescents of a certain age learned about Medieval warfare. The historical research is incredibly thorough (a fact Microsoft boasted with pride upon release), and the campaigns around William Wallace, Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc and other historic champions took me places no textbook could reach. It has strategic nuance that predecessors like Warcraft II lacked, and my friends and I exploited every nook and cranny in a race to build the most efficient war machine.

12. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)

Investigating the local rabble in the merchant city of Amn. Image: Moby Games

I remember completing Baldur's Gate II, sitting back, and thinking, This is one of the best video game stories I have ever experienced. Like a great pulpy novel, it's a plot that thickens with every page turn.

Set in the Forgotten Realms, a traditional Dungeons & Dragons high fantasy world, you and your comrades become mired in the politics and intrigue of a thriving merchant city, a thieves' guild, an order of wizards and an endless cast of characters, beasts and otherworldly beings.

Why it matters: In a phrase: side quests. It was one of the first RPGs in my experience to really pack a lot of meat around the main storyline. Wander off the beaten path and you'll find yourself boots-deep in a great sub-plot, steeped in equally compelling lore. It remains a guidepost for developing rich game worlds.

It also carried the torch of pause-and-plan party combat. Encounter an enemy, pause the action and issue orders to your team based on their skills and position in the field. This mechanic was not invented here, but it was enriched and passed along to a pantheon of direct and spiritual successors: Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age. And great news: The official "Enhanced Editions" of BG1 and BG2 were released for PC and mobile not long ago.

How it changed me:Baldur's Gate I & II got me hooked on isometric CRPGs, a loose term that refers to Western-made computer role-playing games. It became instantly clear that the lore connecting these adventures (and the books, guides and tabletop games on which they were based) was fathoms deep. It's the very essence of nerd-dom, and I was barely scratching the surface, hungry for more.

13. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2005)

Germany has a strong lead by 1950 AD in this match of Civilization IV. Image: Civ Fanatics

I severely underestimated Civilization IV on first approach, thinking it would be an Age of Empires-style jaunt I could grasp in one afternoon. It was not. Like most players, I spent many hours in a clueless purgatory, watching my pitiful civilization spiral into economic ruin under the heels of duplicitous aggressors. The Civ learning curve is brutal, but I'm proud I stuck it out, because it's the most intellectually rewarding game I've ever played.

Why it matters:Civ's sophistication is unparalleled. Given every possible permutation of human society — geography, culture, technology, war, suffering and achievement — the delicate math that balances Civ draws a shockingly accurate picture of history no matter how you play it. The incremental march of progress is so addicting, you wake up 500 turns later to realize that's exactly what real history is: a slow, tedious quest to make things bigger, better and more powerful. And just like real world leaders, you'll probably screw it up.

While the core gameplay mirrors its forebears, Civ IV made a dramatic technological leap with a 3D graphics engine built from scratch and smarter AI opponents. As such, it was widely acclaimed as the best strategy game of its time.

How it changed me: On my way to a hypothetical desert island, from which I cannot return, the one game I choose to play for the rest of my life is Civilization. Every playthrough is radically different, and my best laid plans for victory (and sometimes, just survival) simply will not pan out over 6,000 years of simulated global history. It is a game of pivoting, coping and deep forward-thinking — a chess match multiplied by 50,000 variables. There is absolutely nothing like it on the market today, and every iteration brings richer gameplay to this venerable and beloved franchise.

14. Minecraft (2009*)

A Babylonian city built of sandstone in Minecraft. Image: swiftsampson/reddit

Reddit's early obsession with Minecraft piqued my interest right away. An open world, complete creativity and a survival adventure to boot? Not to mention its lone developer — Markus "Notch" Persson — providing full transparency on an evolving development process. For $12, I eagerly hitched a ride on the Minecraft Alpha in 2009. In my gut, I knew something big was happening. Thousands on the Internet knew it, too.

Why it matters:Minecraft is the most important independent video game ever made, and possibly the most influential game of the last decade. This is not an exaggeration, because:

It is a blockbuster commercial success, with total sales across all platforms approaching 50 million copies. It is now the third best-selling video game of all time, behind Tetris (1984) and Wii Sports (2006).

It is a cultural force to be reckoned with. Players devote years of their lives to insane structures and complex machines. Schools have adopted it in their curricula. YouTubers with legions of fans make millions of dollars publishing videos of their blocky exploits. And innumerable clones and rip-offs surface every day, which Notch shrugs off as flattery rather than infringement.

How it changed me: In 2009, I witnessed a radical change in gaming. Minecraft was built out in the open, with early adopters shaping the very nature of the game alongside its creator. I wrote about the Minecraft community's ascension on a surge of social content, but even then, the horse was out of the barn.

The economics of game development had shifted, seemingly overnight, and a wave of aspiring developers said, "If Notch could do it, we can do it!" And the Internet gave birth to the Indie Game Renaissance, fueled by social media, YouTube, Kickstarter and fans who could will their ideal game into existence. There are two gaming eras now: Before Minecraft and After Minecraft. And I loved spectating the crossover.

*Minecraft's Alpha iterations were purchased and played as early as 2009, though the game was not "officially" released until 2011.

Your Picks?

Do you have vivid memories of the games detailed here? What's on your list of games that had the biggest impact on your creative life? Share your favorites and experiences in the comments below.

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